Black Eyeliner
by Unnaturally Absurd
Summary: Rory's not the good, little girl anymore, and living by herself seems like the thing she wants the most, when suddenly Hartfords world comes crashing into her life. Rogan. AU.
1. Don't call me Emo

Black eyeliner.

Knee-high black, laced up boots.

Brown hair with a blue stripe down the side.

She wore a cami with a small, red, fitting, stomach showing shirt over top, and a black skirt, with her striped socks reaching up above her boots.

Her fingernails were painted black, and had scabs from her biting them down to basically nothing.

If you'd called her a goth she'd punch your lights out, but nobody ever got brave enough to get that close to her, though it was usually the tattoo on her arm that had people steering clear of her, for it said in bold, dark letters "BITE ME" where everyone could see it.

Rory Gilmore was rebelling.

After her mother had died 2 years before, the day before she was set to go to Yale… She was depressed. Then angry, and pushing everyone away from herself, she'd went to live in Hartford. It was the only place where she could be alone, considering her grandparents just gave her the poolhouse.

And then she'd decided to express her emotions. That's when her grandparents had stopped talking to her. They didn't even achknowledge her. She was "the girl living in the poolhouse", which was code for, "our disgrace of a granddaughter who could possibly be worse than her mother".

She liked it better like that, anyway.

So, here she was, sitting in the little coffee shop, taking a drag of her cigarette and blowing the smoke in rings to amuse herself, while ladies in pink pantsuits and over-hair-sprayed hair gasped at her disapprovingly. Whatever.

Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked out the window, and watched some girls in their Chilton school uniforms walk by, chatting happily, and subtly throwing glances at the 3 men across the street from them. She could hear their giggling as they passed the café she was in, and it made her feel even more depressed to remember when she'd gone there herself. Mind you, she didn't walk down Hartford with her best pals, since her mom was a little too old to go to her school, and Lane didn't have the money, nor the mother to go.

She sighed, and told herself she couldn't cry. Her eyeliner would run, and then she probably wouldn't even get the waitress to refill her cup because she'd be so scared of her. Hartford was so typical.

_Ding Dong_

She heard the little bell at the door, that signaled someone coming in, and saw the guys from across the street stroll in like they owned the place or something.

Actually, everyone sort of walked in like that. Except for her. She kind of just… you know, clomped in or whatever. Boots like hers did that to a depressed girl. Of course, she wasn't really trying to be impressive, was she?

"3 coffee's please", she heard one of them say. He was blonde, and was eyeing the waitress, which in turn made her blush.

Before she could make a sarcastic little comment inside her head, whereforth she would chuckle and collect stares from everyone around her, someone sat infront of her.

She closed her lids, and turned her head slowly to the person sitting there, and opened them to see one of the 3 guys, smirking at her. He had brown hair, and very tan skin. He didn't look very intimidated by her.

"Hi, my name's Finn", he said, reaching his hand out to shake hers. What the hell? These rich kids all thought they were number one or something.

She raised her eyebrow at him and took another drag from her cigarette, blowing the smoke in his face, while leaning back and crossing her legs. Like she was actually going to give him her name.

"I like your top", he said, when the smoke had cleared and grinned some more, leaning his arms on the table. She rolled her eyes and looked at his friends who were at the counter, laughing at them. This Finn, or her, she couldn't decide.

"C'mon Finn, leave the pot-smoking emo girl to herself, I saw some other girls down the street from here" said one of his friends, who also had brown hair, walking over and handing this Finn guy his coffee. The blonde followed, smiling at her.

"Call me emo again, and I'll make sure those girls run screaming next time they lay eyes on you", she said icily to the one who'd said the very thing. He looked a little shocked at her, but quickly recovered his cocky air.

"So she talks", said Finn again, and she put her feet down, and pulled her bag over her shoulder and got up to ask the waitress to put her coffee in a to-go cup, while taking another drag.

They followed her to the counter, and she was getting sort of pissed off now, so she turned a little, so her Bite Me tattoo was in clear sight of their eyes.

She could hear them laughing, and sighed angrily, pushing her cup harshly to the girl behind the counter, who wasn't sure whether to smile at the guys behind her, or stay totally neutral around Rory.

"To-go cup, please", she said, staring at her, and smiling meanly, and she scurried off to the other side with her cup.

"So, can I get your number?" She turned around to face the 3 guys again, and Rory decided to just tell them off.

"Please, leave me alone, and go off and have a party with one of your blonde bimbos, whom I'm sure will gladly give you _their_ number. Thanks." She turned back around, grabbed the cup that the waitress was handing her with a trembling hand, and stalked out of the café, making sure she didn't clomp this time.


	2. Pack of Cigarettes

"Same old, Frank", she said to the old man that sold her the cigarettes she smoked everyday. It really was, the same old pack every, single time.

"You know, Rory, one of these days, these things are gunna kill you", said Frank, handing her the same, old yellow pack. She gave him the money, and took the pack, immediately lighting one up and taking a drag.

"Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for", and she turned around, putting her hand up and waving to him, while putting the rest of her smokes in her bag. Walking down the street, she saw the coffee shop she'd been in yesterday. She would have gone in, but those guys were in there again.

"Great, now I'm going to have to find a new café…" she muttered to herself, scowling at the lady walking past her. Clomping her way past the café's window, she prayed they wouldn't see her, and if they did wouldn't come to talk to her.

Of course, she thought ironically, god does hate me so I doubt he'll hear my prayers. Taking another drag, she coughed a bit, and threw the cigarette down. She really _was_ trying to quit. Really.

She felt the wind blow her hair around, and grabbed her hair, putting it up in a ponytail with a band she kept around her wrist. Still walking along, she crossed the street at the intersection and look at the other people strolling along, and living their lives. She saw another guy, dressed much like herself, and wondered if maybe he was worse off than she was.

Heading into a McDonalds, she smelt that wonderful French fry smell, and got in line to order some. Their coffee sucked, but their fries were amazing.

"So, we meet again", she heard from behind her, and turned to see the blonde guy from yesterday. Rolling her eyes, she turned back around and proceeded to ignore his presence. She'd done it many times before.

"Sorry about my friends, the other day. They shouldn't have bothered you like that." The apology surprised her, but she just figured it was his way of getting into her pants. Or, well, skirt.

A silence passed, and she cringed slightly at the 3 year old kid in the corner who was sobbing his eyes out because he didn't get the right toy.

"Wow, I think I might go deaf…" the blonde behind her again. He just couldn't take a hint, could he?

Turning around again, she looked him up and down, taking in the same casual, unoriginal kind of clothes she saw everybody wearing. He smirked at her, thinking she was checking him out.

"Hi, I'm Logan," he extended his hand out to her, waiting for her to shake it.

"If I didn't shake your friends hand, what makes you think I'm going to shake your hand?" Rory asked him, raising her eyebrows, and backing up slowly because the line was moving.

He took his hand back, and seemed to shrug nonchalantly.

"Exactly," she said, turning back around, and waiting impatiently for the guy in front of her to order his food already.

Finally, the man got his food, and before she went up to order she turned back around to give the blonde a good glare, but saw he wasn't there. Scrunching up her eyebrows, she turned back around once again, and jumped slightly when she saw him standing in front of her, still smirking at her.

"Couldn't resist another look at me, huh?" He said, and Rory decided she really didn't like this guy. Looking past him to the girl at the counter, she ordered a large fry.

"And 3 big Macs, with fries and 2 cokes and a diet dr. pepper, please," said the Logan guy, and Rory gaped at him while the server went off to get the food.

"Excuse me, but if you think I'm going to pay for all of that, then obviously you've lost a few marbles running around in your head," said Rory, in a very bad mood now. He looked at her amused, which only fueled her anger even more.

"Don't worry, I'll pay. For your fries too," he said, pulling out his wallet.

"I don't need your charity, thanks," she said, because although she preferred to not talk at all, she couldn't resist telling this guy off. She pulled out her own wallet, and stepped up so she was right at the counter.

"It's not charity. It's just me paying for your fries as an apology to irritating you, and ordering my food, when obviously I had no right to order when you were clearly in line before me," he said, taking out his credit card, and putting it on the counter, which just so happened to be when the server came back. She took his card, and Rory glared daggers at Logan's head while the server gave him the receipt.

She grabbed her food roughly off the counter, and stalked out of the McDonalds, now officially in a very fowl mood.

What nerve had he? Acting like she was just another one of those girls who swooned and giggled grotesquely while he attempted to act like he was actually interested in her. And paying for her food? Like she was just some poor girl living on the street. If only he knew the half of it. God, she thought, if only I could just be invisible, then maybe I wouldn't have to put with jerks like him.

"Ok, I know you think I'm a jerk," she heard from behind her, and started, shocked to see him running to catch up with her, McDonalds bags in his hands, along with drinks and his wallet.

Had she said the jerk thing out loud?

Turning away from him, she started walking faster, hoping the amount of stuff he was holding would slow him down, and he would stop following her. Unfortunately, and to her great chagrin, her little plan didn't work, and she found him walking beside her, matching her stride for stride. She was sort of impressed, but she wasn't about to let him know that.

"What do you want?" Rory asked, stopping abruptly, catching Logan off-guard. He look to her a little surprised, but instead of replying, placed his things on the ground, then put his wallet in his pocket, and picked his things back up again. "Well?"

"Look, I know what you're going to say already, but I just wanted to know if you wanted to go grab some coffee or something, sometime…?"

"No."

"C'mon. What did I ever do to you? Pay for your fries? Is that some sort of criminal offense in your book, or something?"

She glared at him some more, and resumed her walking, once again attempting to ignore his presence. She got to the intersection and crossed the street again, heading back to her grandparents house, and her pool house. She really needed to get an apartment of her own. Then again, that meant a job, and she wasn't really all that social.

Taking a look over her shoulder, she saw that the Logan guy had stopped following her, and she sighed with relief. Passing the café she saw his two friends weren't in there anymore, and looked ahead of her to see them all piling into his porche. She made a disgusted face, while they all looked at her after Logan had said something to them, and laughed, then closed the doors.

As she continued walking, she turned back into the little store where she bought her cigarettes.

"Another pack, Frank. I'm trying to speed up this death process."


	3. We're Having a Party

**Hello, everyone! Number 3 is out, and the reason I'm getting like, 3 chapters out on the weekend, is because I don't know if I'll be able to get them out as fast during the week. Anyway, hope anyone who reads it, enjoys it. :)**

**Also, your reviews are AWESOME. I love reading them, so don't hold back:)**

Rory walked out of the pool house, and down the path into the back doors of the Gilmore mansion.

"Rory, good, you're here. Look, we're hosting a party tonight, and I know I didn't tell you before, but would it be much of a bother to you, to stay in the pool house for the rest of the night?" Rory's grandmother, Emily Gilmore, asked her, as she walked into the room, fixing candles, and re-arranging flowers. That's when Rory noticed the servants all blustering about, eyes averted so they wouldn't get scolded from her grandma for some unknown reason that probably only Emily would know about.

Her grandfather walked into the room just then, fixing his tie.

"Oh, Rory, good. Ah… Did Emily tell you about the party tonight?"

"Yes, Richard, I told her. She's fine with it. You! What are you _doing_ with those scissors?" Rory's grandmother started off down the hall, yelling and getting angrier because… wait… oh, yes, the rose stems were too short. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Uh huh… Well, I'm glad you're fine with it then. Uh… Goodbye." Rory's grandfather walked out of the room, probably to go get a glass of brandy.

Rory stood there, and looked at waiters, and servers, and butlers, and servants alike swishing around her, trying to time their steps so they'd be out of the room by the time Emily came back in.

"Why, of course, grandma, grandpa!" Whispered Rory in a sickly sweet voice, picking up her skirt and twirling around, causing the help to look at her strangely. "I don't mind at all that you're locking me up in the pool house for the night!" She went and purposefully wrinkled the carpet beneath her. "It's no different from any other day, anyway!" She landed, very un-lady-like on the sofa, sighing sorrowfully. "Maybe I can sneak some vodka, and get smashed…"

She heard one of the servant girls laughing at her antics, and growled at her, pretending to be a bear. The girl widened her eyes, and rushed out of the room, causing Rory to laugh.

In fact, she now noted, she was officially alone. Everyone had deserted her. She shrugged dramatically.

"Oh, well!" She stood back up, and over to the liquor cabinet, where she snagged 3 bottles of… well, she wasn't quite sure, actually… and snuck out the back door, down the path, and into her "home".

"Mitchum! Shira! Oh, and Logan! How good of you to come…" Emily Gilmore said in that creepy Hartford kind of voice. Logan smiled back at her, rolling imaginary eyes in the back of his head. How did he get dragged into coming to another one of these things?

"Emily! How nice of you to invite us! What a lovely party you seem to be throwing!" His mother's voice made him cringe, and he waited patiently for the pleasantries to be over with.

He saw Finn and Stephanie over on the other side of the room, and waved slightly to get their attention. He tipped an imaginary martini glass into his mouth, and his friends nodded, understanding that he was asking for a drink.

As he walked into the house, he shook hands with the few men standing near the door, pretending to be interested in whatever it was they were talking to him about. He'd sort of learned to zone out every time he was stuck at one of these shindigs, and had perfected the skill of the "smile and nod".

The truth was, he'd been pre-occupied the whole day. About that girl. The goth girl. The only girl who'd ever turned him down…

"So, Logan how's Yale?" He turned his head to see someone else talking to him… what was his name?

"Um, yes, it's great. Actually, could you excuse me, please? I think I see my…" he trailed off, leaving the man smiling and nodding at him, obviously a master at the skill by now. What was he, 60? That's a lot of practice…

He made his way over to the bar, where he found Finn, Colin, and Stephanie, all drinking something – he didn't know what – but what he did know was that he wanted some.

"Logan, my man! How goes you, on this fine, fine evening? Spot anyone worth chatting with?" Finn, one of this best friends, asked him, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that let Logan know what he meant by "chatting". He smirked at him, grabbing a drink off a passing tray, and gulping down a good half of it.

"No, no, not yet at least. You?"

Finn sighed enthusiastically. "No! What a boring party! What is it for this time, anyway?"

Colin answered him, "I think it may have something to do with chickens…"

Logan spit some of his drink he'd had in his mouth, laughing. Stephanie grinned at him, taking his drink away, and grabbing something off the bar counter. He thanked her.

"So, anyone up for our own kind of party?" He asked, looking around at his friends.

"You know it, mate!" Replied Finn, swinging his arm around Logan's shoulder.

"Alright, but it's Colin's turn to steal the beer…"

"I don't know, they're having another party, and I've been left out because god forbid anyone should set their eyes upon me." Explained Rory to Lane, her best friend, while she sat on her couch, flicking through channels on her plasma screen t.v.

"They're so stuck up!" Sympathized Lane, and Rory could hear Zack yelling at her to get off the phone in the background.

"I know! I don't even know why I still live here."

"Well… You could always move back here… We all miss you Rory." Lane always tried to convince her to come back to Stars Hollow whenever they talked.

"Lane, you know I can't. I'd be a total mess. I just… can't." Rory didn't really tell Lane all that much. Not about her clothes, or her tattoo, or her smoking.

She heard Lane sigh on the other end. "Okay… well, Zack's having a heart attack, so I gotta go. Talk to you next week?"

"Yeah, okay, bye."

"Bye." Rory hung up the phone, and continued to flick through the channels dejectedly. That is, until she heard a noise outside her kitchen window.


	4. He Provoked Me

**Ok, so I finally got this one out! Yay! **

**I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS! **

**Also, could someone please tell me what "Au" means? And, you know... all that other fanfic lingo stuff... lol.**

**ALSO... Before you start harping on me about how there's no "Logan and Rory" action going on yet, I KNOW I KNOW, you must be patient. I was going to continue this scene, but figured this was a good place to stop, so... You'll have to wait til chapter 5. **

**And your going to LOVEme, after chapter 5 wink wink, nudge nudge. Lol, well, at least, I hope you will... lol.**

**Anyway, here you go, number 4.**

* * *

Placing the bag of potato chips and remote control off her lap, she grabbed a half-empty bottle of some brown liquid from the coffee table, and stood up, chugging down the alcohol as she made her way to the kitchen. She could still hear the tapping noises, but had consumed just enough booze to feel brave. When she was right in front of the window, she brought the bottle down from her lips, but it was all spurted onto the window when she saw the not until recently familiar blonde head, tinkering around with her window lock.

Though she couldn't be completely clear, thanks to the blurry imagery of the saliva-infested alcohol made on her glass pane, but she was pretty sure Logan had a deer-caught-in-headlights expression upon his face.

Thedrink was immediately brought back up to her lips.

And then spit back out again, when she heard Finn's voice from behind her.

"Well, hello there. Have me met before?" She turned around to see the tan skinned guy who'd sat in front of her originally at the coffee shop. "Logan! I got the front door! Are you alright, Madame? It's an awful shame to be wasting all that drink..." She was pretty sure the deer-caught-in-headlight look had jumped to her face by now.

"Wh.. What are you.. you doing here... what are you doing here?" Rory asked incredulously, placing the bottle upon her kitchen counter with a shaky hand, and looking around at all her windows and doors, expecting to see people climbing in. Of course, Finn had somehow unlocked the front door... so they all climbed in that way. Or, well, walked in.

"Whoa! It's Goth girl!" Rory whipped her head around, looking for the guy who said it. She was pretty sure his name was Colin.

"Whose 'Goth girl'?" Rory heard a girl's voice this time, and saw a blonde come in with Logan behind her, holding a champagne glass in one hand, and a purse in the other.

Rory stared, amazed and unsure of how to react as the 4 of them came into her pool house and made themselves comfortable, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and lounging about all over her furniture.

"I didn't know Goth's liked Oprah…" She heard the Colin guy say, as she pondered her situation, and scrunched up her brows, only to see that she'd stopped at that channel on her TV. When she'd heard the noise by her kitchen window.

"I wouldn't know, because I am NOT Goth, and like I said before, you call me Goth, or emo, or emotionally troubled, or any other synonyms of that kind, and I will kick your ass", she said, glaring so hard, she started to feel a minor pain in the back of her head. Or maybe that was the liquor…

They all turned to look at her, slightly surprised expressions on their faces.

"Relax, Goth girl, I was only posing my curiousit—", but Colin didn't get to finish because Rory had tackled him.

She clasped her hands around his throat and started screaming, "Don't! Ever! Call! Me! Goth! Again!" in between banging his head on the ground. She soon felt strong arms close around her waist, and pull her from her victim, as she struggled to keep a firm grasp on him.

"Girl! Lady! Geez, what's your name?" She heard Logan demand at her, as she refused to let go of Colin's shirt collar. The fear in his eyes almost made her smirk.

"Lorelei!" She screamed at him, punching and kicking, anything to keep a hold of him.

"Lorelei! Lorelei, let go!" She heard him say. Finally, he ripped her so strongly from Colin, that they fell backwards, and she landed on him, back to his chest. She breathed in deeply, and realized how much energy she'd put into beating Colin's face in.

"Jesus…" She heard Finn say, as he and the blonde girl helped Colin to his feet, and onto her couch.

"Little bastard!" Rory screamed again, attempting to get back up, and she felt the arms around her waist again, and remembered she was on top of Logan. Her face flushed.

"Wow, you are one feisty chick…" Logan said from behind her, and Rory's face flushed an even darker red.

"Let go of me," she said harshly, trying to get out of his grasp.

"Not unless you promise not to try and beat Colin up again," he replied.

"He _provoked_ me," she retorted, twisting her head around to face him. He smirked at her.

"Do you promise?" He asked.

"Yes, yes, whatever," she answered, and got up as he let her go. Walking past the couch, she set her face in an angry scowl, and swiping the bottle off the kitchen counter, made her way back to the love seat in front of the TV where she'd sat before and fell on it, while taking a big, long, swig from her drink. She grabbed her bag of chips and started eating them by the handful. Beating people up was tiring!

"So, um, Lorelei… I didn't take you for an Oprah kind of girl…" Rory turned her head to see Finn coming over to her, and scowled even more when he collapsed on the seat beside her.

"I'm not," she snapped, and went to take another drink but saw that her bottle was empty.

"Here, let me help you with that," he said, and pulled another from seemingly nowhere. Looking at him closely, with her eyes narrowed she cautiously took the bottle from his hand, while he got rid of the empty one. Popping off the lid, and taking a sip, she decided it wasn't poisoned, and most probably drinkable.

"What did you say your name was again?" She asked.

"Finn." She paused to regard him seriously.

"Finn," she said, tipping the warm liquid into her mouth once more, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…"


	5. He's Australian

**WARNING**

**Ok, so I just wanted to let you guys know about a few things before you read chapter 5.**

**ONE - This is NOT, I repeat, NOT a PDLD or whatever the term is. Okay? Finn and Rory do NOT fall in love or anything along those lines. This is strictly a ROGAN and the following is only a part of the story. (got you guys thinking, eh?)**

**lol**

**TWO - There is one incident in the story where I used the F Word. Lol. If you are offended by this, I'm just giving you time to turn around and pick a different story to read (although I only used it once). I debated whether or not putting it in, but it didn't sound as good without it.**

**Finally, THREE, which isn't really a warning. I want to thank all of those who reviewed (I LOVE YOU!) And I wanted to answer a few questions or curiousities some people asked or said or whatever.**

**I want to thank brown-eyed-beauty87 for answering my AU question AND reviewing like 10 minutes after I posted chapter 4, as well as Vivilpl82 for helping me spell Lorelai, and answering the AU question,**

**Aznangel4eva (AU question)**

**Iceprincess954 (Rory didn't kick them out because she was slightly drunk, and very surprised to see them breaking into her pool house)**

**KeitaWolf (Spelling Lorelai, and for explaining AU, OOC, and all the different pairing lingo, R&R, and for offering more help if needed)**

**CoCaCoLa29 (for letting me know I'm evil :) )**

**whyshouldicare1 (For inspiring me to not write short chapters, and no I wasn't really trying to do the window thing like in the episode)**

**ktam36 (cute is good ;) )**

**JustPeachy123 (I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I have no idea what you mean by Casablanca, but it's cool that you caught that (even if I didn't lol), but would you mind explaning to a slow person like me?)**

**riotgirllina (thank you for grieving for Rory)**

**Angel1178 (Yes, the girl is Stephanie, for answering the AU question, and for offering any other help)**

**Ristine (For encouragement)**

**XxAngelxX911 (Thank you for saying my story rocks, and yes, it's unfortunate I had to kill off Lorelai... :( ) lol that sounded funny.**

**Nemi Jade (I like alcohol humor too:) And for the compliment)**

**Michaelover101 (Thanks for loving my story, and loving the provoked line, and for loving Rory's OOC-ness, and for answering the AU question)**

**Anyway, that's all... lol. **

**You may now read the story... :)**

* * *

In my inebriated state, I was able to establish only three crystal clear thoughts forming in my head amongst the blurry matter inside my brain, which was starting to feel rather fuzzy. 

One, I was making out with Finn.

Two, Finn was an extraordinary kisser.

And three, I was making Logan jealous and boy did it feel good. Possibly better than Finn's tongue, which was nothing short of spectacular, let me tell you.

He'd obviously had some practice.

Anyway, I'd been watching Logan's expression in the corner of my eye fall deeper and deeper for the past half an hour as he watched us kiss passionately with no signs of stopping anytime soon. It was too rich, and being as drunk as I was, I didn't take the time to analyze why making him jealous would give me so much satisfaction.

The point of the matter was that it did, and I loved it.

He thought I was so caught up in the kissing that I didn't notice him at all, as he shamelessly watched us as the minutes ticked away. In the back of my head, in a dark, dusty corner of my sub-conscious I vaguely realized this must have seemed like porn to anyone watching, but, really. Who was watching except Logan, and to tell you the truth, I didn't want him to turn away.

Am I that evil? I have to admit, the vengeance might have spouted from a few other... choice... issues. But I was floating home on cloud 9, which was something I hadn't felt in a long time.

If I'd maybe passed on a couple of drinks, I might have thought that kissing Finn like I was would be a terribly disgusting, and awful thing to do. He was the enemy, so to speak, one of the rich snobs, and I was willing to bet the whole pool house he wouldn't even remember my name in the morning.

Then again, I hadn't exactly told them the whole truth of my name situation, had I?

Oh, lordy, what had I gotten myself into? I looked at Logan again and sighed into Finn's mouth, watching Logan's eyes get darker and darker. Finn took it as an encouraging gesture, but really I was starting to feel bad for Logan. Then he did this neat little thing with my bottom lip, and all thoughts of Logan vaporized somewhere into the back of my head...

* * *

It was revolting. I would have thrown up if it weren't for the fact that I couldn't unglue my eyes away from them. Their mouths were turning red from the effort, and their hands seemed to have minds of their own, while Lorelai's hair looked like it'd just gone through a tornado.

And the worst part? I actually cared.

Finn, the lucky bastard. How did he always seem to end up making out on the girls couch, while I was stuck charming young blondes just to go on a date with me? How did he manage to skip all pleasantries, and jump right into the action, right into the only part guys our age ever looked forward to? And how did he somehow work his... whatever it was... on the one girl who'd despised all of them almost hurtfully?

I clenched my fist on the couch so my knuckles turned a ghostly white, contrasting noticeably with the black material of the couch. I forced myself to ease my grip. She was just a girl. She wasn't even my type. She probably worshipped Satan everyday, and I guessed her closet didn't even have a piece of clothing that didn't have black on it somewhere.

I saw as her hand went up Finn's shirt, and watched, sick to my stomach as she brought it down gently, fumbling slightly. She _was_ drunk. It didn't make me feel any better.

The scene brought a tingle to the pit of my stomach and I realized this was like watching mild porn. It didn't make me feel any better either.

"I bet it's because he's Australian..." I muttered to myself bitterly, and almost jumped out of my seat when I heard Stephanie's voice by my ear.

"Jealous much, Huntzberger?"

"No," I said, and turned to look at her smiling at me with that Cheshire grin. I asked her where Colin went, and she told me he'd gone to the bathroom to check out his almost-broken nose. I would have laughed, but that would have meant I'd been feeling some emotion related to amusement or happiness, and I hadn't felt anything like that since about 30 minutes ago.

I turned my head back to the happy couple, and winced slightly when I heard Lorelai sigh into Finn's mouth. Stephanie started laughing beside me, and I turned back to her, glaring almost as hatefully as Lorelai had.

"What's so funny?"

She continued to laugh heartily and this only served to piss me off even more.

"What," I asked, severely annoyed, "Is so fucking funny?"

This made her laugh even harder, and she placed her hands on her stomach, rocking slowly beside me, tears starting to form in her eyes. I glanced quickly to Lorelai and Finn, but they didn't seem to even notice the almost hysterical blonde girl beside me, and I punched the couch arm irritably. It took her another minute before she finally calmed down.

"Well?" I asked, eyebrows raised, hoping this wouldn't amuse her, and force her into another fit of laughter.

"Nothing…" she replied, grinning widely, and she giggled a bit more.

"You expect me to believe that nothing was the reason you couldn't stop laughing for like 5 minutes?"

"Well, it's just…" she started, almost choking on herself as she tried not to laugh again, "It's just… I've never seen you so jealous before…" She covered her mouth with her hand, attempting to stifle whatever noise might have come out of her mouth, but failing miserably.

"I'm not jealous," I said, spitting out the word like it was acid. Huntzbergers didn't get jealous. Ever.

Stephanie laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more, and I thought maybe I'd been dropped down to hell, what with Finn making out with the girl I hadn't been able to get out of my head since the day at McDonalds, and Stephanie laughing unmercifully at my pain and discomfort.

"What's even more funny…" started Stephanie again, and I found myself trying to block out her voice, "Is that you're jealous of… of…" she broke off again, hiding her face in the couch. I really couldn't see the humor in it. "Your jealous of her!"

I think my face turned a light shade of tomato, but I couldn't be sure. I'd never blushed before, except that one time in grade 2. Actually, that might have been the red paint I was playing with...

"What do you mean, her?" I asked, thoroughly offended, though unsure quite as to why. I barely even knew the girl!

I didn't get my answer, because Stephanie started off in a whole new set of giggling, and I got up the couch, and over to the fridge. I grabbed a bottle of brandy, and twisted the top off, and poured as much as I could into my mouth until it was full. I walked back to the couch, kicking the fridge closed with my foot, hearing a satisfying bang as it slammed closed.

I brought the bottle back down from my lips, then sat down in the same spot I had been in before. Stephanie was still laughing.

I heard a flushing noise, and looked to my right to see Colin coming out of what I assumed was the bathroom. He looked at Finn and Lorelai and smirked.

"They still going at it?"

Yeah, what a bloody great party this was...


	6. Innocent, White Towel

Brrring… brrring… brrring…

I woke up to the sound of an alarm. Stupid alarm clock…

I could feel sun shining in my face, and decided against opening my eyes. Yawning, I stretched my arms, and smiled as I warmed up into the soft comforter of my bed.

"Morning, love."

I screamed and sat up straight, looking frantically around my room. Turning to my side I saw the Finn guy from the café 2 days ago… He smiled at me and raised an eyebrow.

My breathing started to get heavier as I ripped the blanket from my body and stood up, thanking god I was wearing pajamas.

"What are you doing in my bed?" I yelled, covering myself with my arms.

Finn sat up, running a hand through his hair.

"Whoa, love, you need to calm down…"

"I'm not going to calm down! There's a strange man in my bed! What do you think you're doing? You can't just come in here and decide to sleep in my bed with me! What are you, nuts?"

He stared at me a little over-whelmed, and slowly removed the blanket from himself and got up. I was glad to see his boxers were still on him. He raised his arms to me in surrender.

"Just relax. I'm not going to hurt you…"

"Get out!" I screamed, looking around for something to throw at him. What a pervert!

"Ow!" he said, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples, "Can you be just a little bit quieter…?"

"No! Get out! Get out!" I continued yelling, and I grabbed my alarm clock, flinging it towards his head.

"Stop bloody yelling!" He screamed back, catching the alarm clock before it hit his head.

"I will once you GET OUT!" He put the clock down, and then walked out of my room, slamming the door after him.

I breathed in a bit, trying to relax my heart, which was beating 100 miles per minute. I could hear Finn in my kitchen, grinding something…

I realized he was making coffee.

I glared at my door, and then looked in the mirror, checking for signs of anything that would give me a hint as to what had happened last night.

My heart dropped when I saw several hickeys adorning my neck, and jaw. I bit my lip, and went to my drawer, searching for some sort of cover-up or foundation to hide the marks.

I pulled out my make-up bag but all I had was some beige eye shadow.

"This'll have to do for now.." I muttered to myself, and applied a heavy coating of it to every reddish/purple spot I could find. He had better have been good if I was stuck with all of these.

Once I was done, I put the make-up away and grabbed my robe, covering myself almost completely. Opening the door a crack, I peeked out. I saw Finn sitting at the table, his forehead on the counter with a coffee mug in his hand. I listened and could faintly hear him snoring.

Resisting a laugh, I snuck quietly out of my room, and made my way to where Finn was sleeping. I removed the mug from his hand, and took a sip, closing my eyes as the god-like liquid slid down my throat.

"Mmmm…" I sighed, and went to the pot to fill the mug with more coffee.

"You make drinking coffee look really good…" I spun around to see Logan, of all people, peeking his head over the couch.

I almost screamed again.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed, glancing at Finn to see if he had awoken.

Logan smirked at me, and then I saw him disappear behind the couch. Walking around the counter I watched him get up, and come towards me.

"Now, is that any way to greet someone in the morning?" he replied, smirking as he went around me and taking a mug from one of the cabinets he filled it with some coffee for himself.

I turned to follow him with my eyes, and glared. He turned around to face me and raised his eyebrows at me as if he couldn't possibly think of one reason why I'd be so upset with him.

"Again, I ask. What are you doing here?" I said, still glaring. "And why is he here?" I said motioning towards Finn with my hand.

He shrugged his shoulders and took a seat at the counter. "I have no idea. Last night's still a little fuzzy. Do you have any aspirin?" He smiled at my direction and took another drink of his coffee. Sighing and rolling my eyes, I placed my mug on the counter and went to the bathroom to look for some sort of medication. This is when I realized that my head, too, felt like it was being squished into a million little pieces. Wincing at my reflection in the mirror, I grabbed a bottle of Tylenol, and went back out to see Logan in a similar position as Finn.

I narrowed my eyes, and placing the bottle on the counter, and tip-toeing about (which was starting to bug me because I really didn't think I had to tip-toe around my own house… or well, pool house), I looked about for any other surprise guests I may have been accommodating. Two others, as it turned out, in the guest bedroom.

A blonde girl, and the Colin boy from the café. They were intertwined with each other, with only few garments still adorning their bodies, which didn't give me much of a challenge to guess what they'd been doing before they'd passed out.

Disgusted, I left the room, and came back to hear not only Finn's snoring, but Logan's as well.

"Great. Stuck with a bunch of snobby, hung-over, and snoring rich kids…" I muttered. I glared at everything in sight, except the coffee of course, because the coffee never did anything bad to anyone, went to the bathroom to take a shower. Once I was finished I realized I hadn't brought any clothes with me into the bathroom, and silently cursing myself I wrapped a towel around me and peaked through the door. Everyone still appeared to be sleeping, so I once again, tiptoed to my room, which was all the way across the pool house.

* * *

I had been sleeping very peacefully, and almost successfully ignoring the awful pounding that was rhythmically beating against my skull in a very painful manner. That is, until I heard the distinct sound of water running. 

Lifting my head up, I groggily looked to the sink but it was empty and no one was there. I saw Finn still snoring away, and smiling to myself I took another sip of my coffee. I saw the bottle of Tylenol on the counter, and grabbed it, pouring 3 into my hand and downing them with another sip of coffee. I wondered, idly, if maybe three Tylenol was bad for you…

And that's when everything from last night came crashing back into my memory like an 18-wheeler going 200 over the speed limit. I glared at my coffee mug, thinking back to Lorelai and Finn's make out session. And then when they'd started getting passionate. And then when they'd stumbled into her room, lips never unattaching. And then the sound of her giggling right before the door had closed in his face… And then Stephanie's laughing.

I clenched my fist around the coffee cup until my knuckles turned white, and looking at Finn, resisted the urge to strangle him until his eyes popped out of their sockets.

Why was I even like this? It wasn't like she was anything special.

Closing my eyes, and willing myself to calm down, I unclenched my fist, and looked at my coffee mug. Peering at it more closely, I saw there was a name on it. Rory.

Rory? I thought her name was Lorelai? Maybe she had a friend named Rory… but no. Who had a coffee cup with the name of their friend on it? Maybe she was even weirder than I thought she was…

Well, I thought, if her name really is Rory, at least I know before Finn does…

This thought made me feel embarrassed. Who cared that I knew what her name was before Finn did? God, I was turning into such a pussy…

I heard the running water noise stop, and turned to see it had been coming from the bathroom. I figured it must have been Lorelai. Or Rory. I wasn't quite sure…

Glancing around, I put the bottle of Tylenol where it had been before, and took up the position of my sleeping.

I heard the door creak slightly as she opened it, and realized she was probably checking to see if any of us had woken up yet. Peeking through my arms, I saw her dressed in only a towel, and my breath caught in my throat. I tried desperately not to make a sound.

She stepped quietly out of the bathroom, and glancing once more around her, tiptoed her way to her room. I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

He brown hair had been turned almost black from the water, and I could see the lone blue streak down the side. It stuck intimately along her neck and shoulders, and I was jealous that it got to be so close to her. I could see the Bite Me tattoo on her arm, and realized it wasn't just a stick-on. This, for some reason, turned me on a little more than I would have thought it would. I swallowed, hard.

I watched her maneuver around the couch, and coffee table, and soon I was watching her retreating back as she got closer to her room.

I lifted my head up slightly, to get a better view. The back part of the towel had drooped a bit and I could see almost all of her back, and even then it barely covered her butt. Her long legs walked elegantly, and I could feel my fingers itching just to touch her...

I sighed when she finally got to her room and closed the door.

Closing my eyes I tried to think of something, anything, to stop the blood from rushing to somewhere in my pants that I particularly didn't want to deal with at the moment.

I couldn't think of anything, and my thoughts kept being dragged back to the soft, yet noticeable curves of her body, and soon my imagination got the better of me, and my thoughts progressed to less than appropriate images of her, in things that covered way less than the innocent, white towel she'd been addorning just seconds before.

With slightly trembling hands I took a sip of my coffee, which was starting to get cold.

I heard Rory, or Lorelai come out of her room, and looked to see herdressed in the usual black and red ensemble. I had to admit, I'd thought it was kind of hot when I'd seen her in the cafe, or at the McDonalds, but now she just looked down right sexy.

I stared at her, wide-eyed for a moment, as she looked at me a little suspiciously, and got up out my of chair quickly, mumbling about taking a cold shower.

* * *

As I came out of my room, I saw Logan had awoken. Or had he been like that the whole time...? 

I looked at him suspiciously, as I walked towards the counter, and saw him staring at me, his eyes wide, and almost, embarrassed. He got up quickly, and dashed into the bathroom, mumbling something I couldn't hear.

"Okay, then..." I said, raising my eyebrows, "Someone has some issues..."

* * *

**2 Hours Later... Logan's POV...again... :)**

I pulled into the parking lot at Yale, Finn, Colin, and Stephanie's cars right behind me.

Turning off my stereo, I got out of my car, and waited for everyone else. A couple of blondes in more than short skirts walked by, and I winked at them, smirking when they all giggled and whispered to each other.

"Logan! Logan, my dear man, I say in honor of last night, we have a party, and get drunk off our asses!" I heard Finn call to me, as he, and Colin and Stephanie walked towards me. When they caught up, we started heading farther into campus.

"Finn, do you ever remember anything that happened last night?" I asked him, trying not to think about it myself.

"No idea. But this strange girl was yelling at me to get out of her bed when I woke up, so I'm assuming it couldn't have been that bad..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and I had to force myself not to glare at him. Instead I smirked. Stephanie left us there, since her dorm was in a different direction.

"Finn, you lucky bastard! Did you get her to go all the way?" Asked Colin, andI wondered if this is whatI sounded like, normally.

Finn just grinned, promptingme to think that he had got her to go all the way, andI had to restrain myself from punching him. Why wasI so jealous?

"Nah... At least, I don't think anyway. We got in her bed, and she just pulled away. I don't really remember what we said to each other, but I guess I just fell asleep..." I sighed, relieved beyond belief. But had Finn said she'd just pulled away? For no reason at all?

I resisted the urge to smirk. She'd been trying to make me jealous...

"What are you smirking about, Logan? It's not like you did anything interesting last night... at least, nothing I remember." I heard Colin say.

I looked at him, still smirking.

"No, nothing happened... I just realized something, that's all..." They looked at me a little strangely, as we headed into a hallway. We split up, and I made my way to my dorm, while Finn and Colin went to see if they could round some people up to have a party.

I ran a hand through my hair, and smiled slightly.

This was going to be fun.


	7. Nice Tattoo

**Yes. I know. I have been away for 50 bazillion years. Here is number 7, to which hints ever so SLIGHTLY to something of Rory's past, and which finally fixes some little problem I was having... :) Enjoy.**

* * *

Looking at herself in the mirror brought a mixture of two things to Rory's mind.

One.

Pink did so not look good on her.

And two.

Neither did white.

She stood perfectly still, glaring at the mirror until her eyes hurt, tracing patterns along the awful flower prints of her dress.

She was wearing a summer dress. _It wasn't even summer._ It was bloody September for god sakes! She was going to freeze, die, and in the worst piece of clothing she had ever worn. And if she didn't die of the cold, then she most definitely would die of humiliation.

Why, oh _why_ was she wearing this dress?

She had asked herself that question several times in the recent past. Most specifically 10 times within the minute.

It was ugly, and it showed too much skin, and it was way too small for her size.

'Way to ruin what was left of my existence, Emily Gilmore', she thought bitterly.

Because that was why she was wearing the dress. Emily Gilmore. Her grandmother. The owner of her pool house. She was hosting another party. Yes, _another_ one. Today, of all days. Hadn't she just had one yesterday? And what was worse, instead of casting Rory aside, so as not to interfere and mingle with the guests and give them the wrong kind of impressions, she was making her actually attend!

What kind of sick punishment was this?

What had she done, so wrong? Stayed out of her way? Followed all her stupid rules while in the pool house?

Obviously, she had done something _really_ bad. Except, you know… she actually hadn't.

"Rory, dear, are you ready?" Called Emily, from the other room.

She contemplated saying no and pretending to faint, but figured Emily wouldn't fall for it. Plus it would hurt.

"Yesss…." She mumbled, coming out of her bedroom, looking the perfect image of any Hartford society girl, except for the unappealing scowl on her face.

"Oh, don't look like I just cancelled Christmas! It's only a party, and you're always locked up in that pool house doing god know's what with god knows _who_, so if anything it will be doing you some good!"

Rory glared at her grandmother.

"And would you stop looking at me like that? For heaven's sake, Rory, you can't just go around moping and glaring and being a burden upon everything that comes in your presence!"

"Shut up, grandma," she said angrily, and pushed past her, heading straight for the door. She slammed it behind her, and stomped her way (as much as one could stomp in heels) to the back door of the house. Walking inside she realized the guests had already started arriving. They stared at her as if she didn't belong anywhere near them or her grandmothers house, not now, not ever.

Smiling with such a fake intensity she was sure the fake-fairy was going to come and hand her job over to her, she fixed her hair a bit, and pulled at her dress in a futile attempt to make it cover just the teensy bit more.

Everyone averted their gaze away from her, and the awkward moment passed, gone as if it had never been there in the first place.

She walked over to the bar and ordered the strongest drink they had. She didn't really have any idea what that was, but the bartender seemed to.

As she drank it down, slowly, hoping it would help her through this awful night, a woman with the blondest hair she'd ever seen came up to her, much to Rory's horror.

"Hello, darling, I don't believe we've met. Flora Birneese." She held out her hand, and Rory took it, hesitantly, hearing her grandma's threats of kicking her out on the street ring through her ears.

"And you are?"

"Rory. Gilmore." The woman smiled, and nodded, as if satisfied by something, though what was totally unknown to Rory.

"Well, nice to meet you, darling. I must be going, more people to see, but don't be a stranger." Rory nodded, and she walked away, heading towards some other lady who was wearing most probably too much make-up.

She turned back to the bartender and ordered another drink. Hopefully no one else would come up to talk to her.

"Mary."

Her eyes popped out of their sockets, and she spit out her drink all over the counter, much to the bartenders, and some of the guests disgust. She heard low laughing behind her, and whipped around to confirm her fears.

"_Tristan_?" She asked, incredulously. He smiled at her, taking a napkin and whipping some of her drink off her chin. She blushed, and swatted his hand away.

"I have to stop doing that…" she muttered, staring at the bar counter and looked back up to see him still staring at her. "What?" she snapped.

He put his hands up in mock surrender, "Relax, Mary, it's just a surprise to see you. A nice surprise."

Rory almost blushed again, and smiled at his comment.

"So what are you doing here?" She asked bluntly.

He raised his eyebrows at her, and took a seat at the bar counter. She followed suit.

"Well, it's a party, and people get invited, so they come, and have drinks, and…"

She slapped him on the shoulder, much to both their surprise, but smiled to show she was just being friendly.

"I know what a party is. What I mean is, last time I saw you…" she paused, and looked at him in the eyes to see him still staring at her. "Well, you were going to military school."

"Wow, Mary, you certainly get to the point."

Rory started to feel guilty, and seeing so, Tristan continued speaking.

"It's not a bad thing." She looked to see him smiling. "It's actually a nice change from all this boring small talk."

Taking another drink, she motioned for him to continue.

"Military school is over. It was a semi-empty threat. My dad pulled me back after a couple months, but sent me to live with my grandparents."

Rory started to say she was sorry, but he cut her off.

"Don't, it's not your fault. Besides, I'd pick my grandparents over my parents any day."

She smiled at him, and took another drink.

"Of course, I'd pick _you_ over both, if I had that option…"

She almost spit out her drink again, and started blushing like mad once again.

"Still a Mary I see…" he said, smirking.

She swallowed.

"For your information, I haven't been a "Mary" since after Chilton." Immediately her hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes went wide. "I mean… What I meant, was… after Chilton, I was very… Well, stuff happened, and…" She stuttered, not knowing why she had told him that. Her heartbeat had started to pick up, and almost died of embarrassment when Tristan started to laugh, throwing his head back and catching the attention of a few people in the immediate viscinity.

Rory, now blushing profusely, glared at him all friendliness completely vanished. It wasn't his fault, really. If she hadn't opened her big, fat mouth she wouldn't be in this incredibly mortifying situation. But did he have to laugh like _that_?

She pushed herself off the stool, and stomped away into the living room to sit on the couch. God, this party sucked.

She fixed her gaze onto the centre piece of the coffee table, and her body radiated vibes of tremendous disgust and irritation so that no one even attempted to come and talk to her. Not that they would anyway. And then she felt someone sit beside her and she turned to give him a piece of her mind when she saw Tristan was there. She glared even harder into his blue eyes which were staring at her with no signs of laughter.

"I hate you," she said, and then turned forwards again.

"I already knew that." He replied, and she felt his eyes shift off of her, onto something else. This made her feel slightly less uncomfortable. "You made it very clear in Chilton."

Rory raised her eyebrows to the centerpiece, and thought back to when she had said those things, when she had been trying to get Dean back.

Dean...

The bastard.

She laughed bitterly in a way that sent shivers down Tristan's spine, and her eyes, if possible, turned even colder.

"I never hated you Tristan," she said, turning to look at him, but he was still facing the opposite wall. "In fact, I rather liked you. I was just a stupid teenager back then, who thought love was this big wide ocean of bunnies and unicorns and chocolate." She paused and looked at his face, really looked at it, noticing some changes but not being able to decipher exactly what they were. "I only said that because I didn't want Dean to take that away from me." She turned back and stared at the people mingling around the room, talking about the most boring interesting things.

A minute passed before he spoke, and it was very quietly.

"Did he?"

She looked at him once more, and he turned to face her as well.

"What?" She asked, crinkling her forehead.

"Did he take it away from you?" He answered, and his intense gaze almost made her look away. Two years earlier and she would have looked away.

"Yes," she whispered, and felt her eyes fill with tears with memories she had thought had been locked away forever. She looked down and brought a hand to wipe her eyes, then looked back up to see him still staring at her. She smiled.

"I still hate you."

His lips twitched with the ghost of a smile, and she saw and felt his eyes roam her face much the same way she had done before.

"What's to hate, Mary?" He asked, smirking now, and Rory felt almost relieved that he still called her Mary even though she had told him of her real status. "I bet, if you gave me the chance, I could change your mind..." He trailed off, and she couldn't help but smirk herself.

"In your dreams, Bible Boy."

He laughed again, still staring at her.

"Your a heartbreaker, Mare."

She smiled, "I know. You should see the condition my last boyfriend is in. I heard they shipped him down to some secret facility because of the immense damage I inflicted upon him."

"Kinky."

She laughed and hit his shoulder, mock-glaring at him.

"You are incorrigible."

He trailed a finger down her cheek, a gesture that surprised and comforted her.

"You are beautiful." She was about to reply when he continued. "Too bad I've already got a girlfriend..."

Her eyes widened in shock as her mouth practically gaped open at him.

"You're kidding me."

"Nope." He smiled again, and took something out of his pocket, which she soon came to see was a picture of a girl. She was gorgeous, with long red hair, with a slim face, and green eyes.

"Amazing," Rory remarked, studying the photo. "I never thought I'd see the day when Tristan Dugrey settles down with a girlfriend."

He put the photo back in his pocket.

"Yeah, well... I met her after military school. She's a lot like you actually. I guess that's why I fell for her..." He looked at her again, and smirked. "What can I say? Bookworms turn me on."

Rory blushed, which resulted in Tristan laughing again.

"I'm happy for you," she said, when she had finally composed herself.

"Thanks," he replied, looking down at his hands. "It means a lot. I'm happy too. She's... perfect." He smiled a little dreamily to himself, and Rory wondered if that kind of love would ever happen to her. She looked around the room to see the elite of Hartford society wandering around, not realizing just how completely fake they looked. Or maybe they did? Maybe they had acccepted their lives? Would she ever accept this?

"So..." his voice snapped her out of her voice and she turned to look at him again.

"So..."

"Nice tattoo." Rory's eyes widened as she looked down at her arm to see the special concealer her grandmother had made her wear starting to fade away.

She stood up immediately, grabbing her arm. "Shit!" Then looking to see people staring she immediately sat back down, eyes wide.

" "BITE ME"?" He asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"Shut up!" She hissed fiercly, her fingers wrapping even tighter around her arm.

"Are you okay?" She heard Tristan ask and she looked at him with a nervous expression.

"My grandmother's going to kill me," she whispered, almost hysterically, her eyes darting anxiously from his face to the room on the lookout for Emily. "She doesn't want anyone to know I have a tattoo, and if people to find out, then _she's_ going to find out they saw, and then I'm going to be kicked out!"

He stared at her a little concerned, and confused.

"Kick you out?"

"Yes! God, she is going to _kill_ me..."

"Why don't you stay with me?"

Rory, who had been currently stretching her neck to see down the hallway, whipped her head back to face him, a disbelieving look gracing her features.

"What?"

"Stay with me. My girlfriend won't mind, we have an extra bedroom on the main floor."

"You live together?" She asked, completely dumbfounded. He certainly had a gift for skipping big details.

He smiled a bit, "Yes. Now stop clutching your arm so tight, or else you're going to stop the blood flow, which would not be good. You can stay with me. It's a great idea. So stop worrying."

She looked at him with a confused and surprised expression. A few minutes passed with her just staring at him, he looking at her expectently.

"Al... Alright..." she said, a bit unsure. "And you're positive you're girlfriend isn't going to try to chop my head off in the middle of the night, or poison my food when no one's looking?"

"No," he replied, laughing slightly.

Slowly letting her arm go, Rory sat back a little tensly against the couch, staring at the centerpiece once more, only with a whole different rainbow of emotions this time.

"So... you have an... apartment?" She asked the centerpiece quizically.

"Yes. And a coffee machine."

She smiled.

* * *

**Rate, sure. I like the reviews more. I tried to make it a bit more longer. Hopefully it won't take me so long next time...**


	8. Who are you?

"Wow."

Rory turned to see Tristan standing in the doorway of her new room.

Her new room in Tristan's apartment. Her new room not in the Pool House. Away from Hartford society. Away from her grandparents. Away from Emily Gilmore.

"Yeah..." she said, blushing ever so slightly and looking around her room a little embarrassed, and anxious. Would he think it was just a childish phase? Would he demand that she take everything down? Would he laugh at her...? "It's um... you know, decoration."

He stared at her a little dumbfounded, taking in everything she had put up around the room. "You have posters covering every inch of wall and ceiling in here, half of which have sayings that include the words death, blood, and suicide, not to mention several obscenities, and a few guns and other such weapons. Your bed spread it black, your rug is black, your teddy bear is black! Jesus, Rory, even you're totally covered in black. Everything is black. Or just a really dark blue."

Blushing she responded, "No. It's black."

He was still staring at her in stunned disbelief, and she couldn't help but feel a little defensive.

"What," she snapped, waving her arms around in a frustrated gesture,"You thought, when you saw me at the party, that I would actually wear that kind of clothes? Those kinds of dresses? Did the tattoo not give you some sort of clue?"

He held up in his hands in a slight mock defense. "I'm just saying. No need to take out your claws," he paused to look once more around the room,"Or anything else sharp and pointy for that matter."

She gave him a good glare. Pig. Arrogant Pig. Arrogant, Chauvinistic Pig.

"Rory..."

Prick. Egoistical Prick. Bloody moron... jerk. Stupid Jerk.

"Rory..."

God, he had some sort of nerve--

"Rory!"

"WHAT?" She snapped back, but quickly started to feel guilty because of how shocked and slightly hurt Tristan looked from her outburst.

"I was just going to... ask if you wanted some... coffee..." he said slowly, running a hand through his hair. Oh God. She was so stupid.

"Oh." So maybe he wasn't a pig per say... and not arrogant... well, not too arrogant... and chauvinistic might've been over-exaggerating just a tiny, tiny bit... "But, I'll just leave you to..." he trailed, and turned away to walk down the hall. Okay, chauvinistic was totally wrong.

Sighing, she turned back to look at her room.

It was... nice. Black. But nice.

And, um... er, the posters weren't really that bad... There was only... like, 2.. wait, 3... 4 posters with guns on them... That wasn't so bad, was it?

Placing a hand to her forehead she went and sat on her bed, lying back down onto the comfy duvet. Comfy black duvet. What was so wrong with this? What was so wrong with having a black duvet cover? It's not like you were actually paying attention while you were asleep. In fact, it was probably way better for sleeping! It was like... extra night! Right on your bed. Everyone should change their duvet covers to black. It would probably become the newest fad... It made perfect sense.

Yeah...

Turning her head to the side, she saw Mr. Snuffles. Her... black... teddy bear.

To her otherside was her... black dresser.

Well, come on, she thought. I must have something that's not black in here. Clothes? Well, those don't count. Maybe...

She stared at the ceiling. There was a man's face looking back at her, and he was screaming into the microphone, pictures of demons and fallen angels and basically all matter of depressed things surrounding him. To tell the truth, she didn't really know why he was so angry. In all honesty, she didn't really want to know. His eyes seemed so sad... why? Who really cared? He was famous, he had loads of cash and millions of fans, and if she had read an article correctly, he was happily married with a kid on the way.

Was he just faking it? Was it just a song? A cd? Jeez, was it just a career to him?

"Oh, God..." She winced.

* * *

_"Rory..."_

_"Dean, just leave... please," she begged him. He wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was wrong._

_"Rory... come on... I can't... if I just leave..." Oh, God._

_Please stop looking at me like that._

_Just say it._

_Just say it._

_No. Stop. No, I don't want to..._

_God, just say it!_

_"Dean! Stop!" He pressed her harder into the wall... she was crying... she was crying?_

_Oh God, oh God, oh God..._

_"Rory... oh, Rory, I missed you..." he kissed her forehead... her cheeks, her ears, her neck, her jaw, her eyelids... tasted the tears... salty tears..._

_Oh God, oh God..._

_She was sobbing so hard, her throat hurt... "Please Dean!..." she let out another sob as his lips grazed her shoulder... "Please..." she whispered it now... "Oh, God, please..."_

_He looked up at her; his eyes were so warm, so loving._

_Please stop looking at me like that._

_Just say it._

* * *

Bad memories.

Whether the men and women on her walls we just trying to make a few bucks off of the feelings people like her (ha, what would the 16 year old Rory say to see her like this now?) kept bottled up inside, or if they actually had a few tear-jerking stories of their own, it didn't really matter.

Those angry faces? Those broken hearts? Those suicidal tendencies and songs with lyrics that made you wonder to yourself, just exactly how far were **you** willing to go?

It fit her mood perfectly.

Yeah, it was true. It may be a stupid teenage phase, and if that was the case then adolescence was playing a cruel trick sneaking up on her at this age, but this was how she felt.

With her mother gone, and sour pasts with some of the people in that small town she had grown up in, moving back was not an option she was yet ready to start perusing in the pamphlet of her life. Especially having to face Luke… and Lane… and Babette and Miss Patty, and god, _him_. She did not want to have to look into his face and see the guilt and the – ugh – the love. She did not want to be loved by that monster.

Which was kind of ironic if you thought about it.

The one person who loved her – the one person who could give her what she needed most right now, the one person who could offer her something she had been secretly craving for ever since her mother's death… was the one person she hated the most.

True, though, it wasn't entirely his fault. If she was completely honest right now, it was true that no one could have predicted the car accident. It was just one of those things.

She knew that. She had been in a car accident herself, hadn't she? It hadn't been Jess's fault, it was just something that happened. It was just bad luck.

Sixteen-old Rory had been rather forgiving, that was for sure.

But this.

Her mom, dead. Dead. Deaddeaddead.

Breathing out deeply she hugged her Mr. Snuffles to herself, and reached over to the dresser for a smoke. Lighting up, she inhaled it and let the tears roll silently down her face.

She would be fine, soon enough. And then she would have to go see about that coffee, and probably apologize to Tristan.

So maybe something else good was coming from moving in with Bible Boy. Maybe he could bring out the good, innocent, unjaded Rory that was slowly dying inside herself.

Maybe, tomorrow, she would buy a pink T-shirt.

She laughed to herself bitterly.

Yeah, right.

* * *

**Next Day, 8 am, Tristan's apartment.**

After she had cried a bit more, and finished off her cigarette last night, Rory had gone to get coffee, and apologize to Tristan as well as she had intended.

Things were good between them again, thank god, because she really didn't want to live with someone whose every conversation would be awkward and forced everytime she was in the immediate vicinity.

Anyway, Rory couldn't really complain about her living arrangements, Tristan had been right. It was a good idea. And it pissed off her grandmother.

Though not as much as she would have liked, seeing as how Emily had been slightly subdued by the fact that Tristan was from Hartford society, and therefore was deemed at least acceptable. For now.

And that was direct quote. 'For now'. She's almost felt like laughing when she first heard it.

Instead, she'd opted for slamming the pool house door.

Ahhh, good time, good times.

The only sort of not-so-good thing about this whole thing was that Rory had yet to meet the girlfriend of one Mr. Dugrey, and that just proved to make her even more anxious, which as a result just made her more edgy, which as an extended result, made her feel like clawing her eyes out, and anyone else's eyes that happened to have the misfortune of coming into her line of vision.

She couldn't help it. Though she wanted to believe Tristan was a new kind of guy, not so asshole-ish, finally interested in girls with a little more substance… Well, he didn't exactly have the best track record in girlfriends. She didn't want to have to be the shit out of another blonde bimbo… not only would that most likely upset Tristan, she wouldn't have a place to sleep anymore.

Oh, shove a cow in it, she chided herself. You haven't seen him in years. You have no idea what kind of a girlfriend-record he's keeping nowadays.

Now she was awake. Great.

She opened her eyes to see an annoying bright light shining in them.

Stupid sun. She covered her face with her black blanket, which proved as a very excellent sun-repellent.

Well, until it was suddenly ripped from her hands.

"OH MY GOD!"

Holy mother of pearl that was loud, Rory thought. She covered her ears with her hands, her eyes tightly shut to block the sun since _someone_ had taken away the blessed sun-repelling blanket of the gods…

Wait.

"Who are you?" She asked, opening one eye, squinting, then closing it again. She was definitely going to have to change the angle at which her bed was facing the window. This was extremely disorienting.

"Who am I! WHO AM I? WHO ARE YOU? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!"

Oh. Reason and logic saw it's way into her brain. Tristan had some explaining to do.

She heard loud running footsteps from somewhere above her. They sounded rushed. This was probably not part of his master plan. The idiot.

"Um," Rory said, swinging her legs out from the covers, and stood up, and reaching at her dresser grabbed her shades and put them on.

She saw dark red hair framing a pretty face… well, it probably would be pretty if it wasn't looking at her like she was something she'd found squished and bloody on the bottom of her shoe. She looked down. And those were rather nice shoes… she would probably have that exact same expression, if she had found something like that on those shoes if they were hers.

"Hi." Yes. That was _exactly_ how she managed to get into Yale.

Oh, god… why did she have to go and bring that memory back into her head?

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She shrieked at her. She started backing up and grabbed a mirror from Rory's desk, then proceeded to wave it at her threateningly.

Rory blinked, but Charlotte – yes, this must be Charlotte – didn't know because Rory was wearing her sunglasses.

"Yeah…" she said, coming her fingers through her hair. "I know exactly how you feel." She walked over to the window (slowly, as to not provoke the red-haired girl in front of her) and closed the blinds, then took off her glasses.

By now, Tristan had made his way into the room.

"Charlotte!" He said breathlessly, and his eyes looked kind of crazy… all sleepy and panicky. She turned to look at him, and Rory almost felt sympathetic towards Tristan. She could tell Charlotte was not planning on allowing survivors during this endeavor. "I can explain," he said, holding up his hands like he was trying to calm her down. Bad move. "Please, calm down." Wow. Her observation skills were indeed improving.

"No, I will NOT calm down!" she screamed at him, still waving the mirror a little frantically. "There is a GIRL in here, A GIRL I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE, _living_ in our apartment!"

He winced. "I know, I know, just listen please, Charlotte," he put his hands on her shoulders, which admittedly relieved Rory a bit because as much as she could understand where Charlotte was coming from, that was her favourite mirror she was so carelessly swinging around. "Her name is Rory," he said soothingly, "I knew her High School. Chilton. I caught up with her at that society party I had to attend. Okay? She was in a bit of a tight-spot, so I offered to give her a place to stay. There is nothing going on between us. I promise."

This seemed a good explaination to Charlotte, since she didn't say anything for a minute.

Rory could see Tristan getting kind of tenser and tenser as time slowly ticked by. Literally, because you could hear her alarm clock ticking if you went completely silent.

Finally, she put the mirror down.

"That's Rory?" She asked, kind of quietly.

Well, that was interesting. Was she a normal conversation topic in this household?

"That's Rory," said Tristan, still in a soothing kind of voice. "And nothing if going on between us. Her grandparents kicked her out. I'm just giving her a place to stay."

She was still quiet. Rory figured now would be the best time to maybe cut in.

"Yes. Nothing's going on," she said, smiling slightly, trying to act like this was exactly what she had planned to happen. "I promise. Me and Tristan equal bad chemistry. I swear on all that is holy. Well… not that I believe in god… but you get the picture, I just mean, there's nothing going on between us, because I don't like Tristan that way… not that, you know, he's bad-looking or anything, I mean, I don't think he's hot… or, like, I'm not lusting after him or whatever, but I could see, maybe, what you might see in him… but besides that, we're not … secretly dating… or anything…" she let out a long breath, and then blushed.

They were both facing her now, Tristan raising an eyebrow at her, but it wasn't as effective as it might have normally been because he was also trying to watch Charlotte and gouge her reaction.

Finally, Charlotte walked up to her and offered her hand. "Hey, I'm Charlotte. Tristan's girlfriend." Now if that wasn't territorial, she didn't know what was. Oh, well. It was her apartment. And at least she wasn't snapping bubblegum at her and saying 'like' and 'totally' every two words. She shook her hand.

"Yeah. Rory, as you know. Tristan's told me about you… He said it was okay. I thought he'd told you by now… If it's a problem, I can find somewhere else…"

"No, no, that's fine." She sighed, and looked back at Tristan a little annoyed. Which made Rory laugh.

"Yeah, I guess he hasn't changed much since Chilton. Honestly, I don't understand what you see in him." Tristan turned his attention to her and glared, which just made her laugh some more.

And Charlotte laugh. Aha! Progress, at least.

"You and me," she said to him, walking out the door, "we have some discussing to do." She was gone from view, when she came back and popped her head back in. "Oh, and, it's nice to meet you Rory. Sorry about yelling at you earlier," at this she blushed a little, then scurried away.

Tristan sighed, and rubbed a hand down his face.

"She's nice." Rory said, trying to make conversation.

He laughed. "Yeah. She is. Sorry I didn't tell her sooner, I guess I just never found a good opportunity."

She raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh. Right. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Man, she walked right into that one.

"Actually, Charlotte—"

"Okay! Shut up! Blah blah blah!" she screamed, closing her eyes and covering her ears with her hands.

She heard him laughing and looked to see him smirking at her.

"Hey," he said, heading towards the doorway, "Just stating the facts, man."

She rolled her eyes. "Am I going to need earplugs for when I go to bed, Tristan?"

He just smirked some more at her, which was slightly frustrating, and reminded her of another certain blonde boy…

"Nah. We can find other places to occupy ourselves with. It won't be a problem."

"Ewwwwwwww!" She said, mock-gagging.

"Hey, you asked."

"Yeah, because I concerned for my mental health! Ewwww, now I have… images…." She pouted.

He laughed again, and left her to herself. Probably going to talk to Charlotte. Which made her feel slightly better because the red-head seemed like the type of girl not to let Tristan's charms get in her way of telling him off.

She smiled a little to herself, and then collapsed back onto the bed to get some more shut-eye.

Now that she was living here, she was going to have to get a job. Or… or go back to school.

She had to say, fate was playing a cruel trick, making Tristan's apartment incredibly close to the university campus.

She crawled back under the covers and resolved to sleep for another good hour or so. And then she would get some coffee.

And _then_, then, she would think about what she would do next.


End file.
